Obesity has been steadily increasing worldwide and poses serious health risks, which if untreated, can become life threatening. There are various methods for reducing weight such as diet, exercise, and medications but often the weight loss is not sustained. Significant advances have been made in the surgical treatment of obesity. Surgical procedures such as the gastric bypass and gastric banding have produced substantial and lasting weight loss for obese patients. These procedures and products have been shown to significantly reduce health risks over time, and are currently the gold standard for bariatric treatment.
Although surgical intervention has been shown to be successful at managing weight loss, both procedures are invasive and carry the risks of surgery. Gastric bypass is a highly invasive procedure which creates a small pouch by segmenting and/or removing a large portion of the stomach and rerouting the intestines permanently. Gastric bypass and its variations have known complications. Gastric banding is an invasive procedure which creates a small pouch in the upper stomach by wrapping a band around the stomach to segment it from the lower stomach. Although the procedure is reversible, it also carries known complications.
Less invasive or non-invasive devices that are removable and capable of significant weight loss are desirable.